Re: rant no problem lol I totally went off on one as well... And, there's no need to apologise for being helpful! After all, you started this topic, and placed for webcomic composers to meet and discuss are few and far between, so thank you!
As for the things you express a dislike for... while I don't particularly like any of the stories/songs you listed either (the first Deadpool film was decent, personally I managed to enjoy it a few times, but otherwise ehh), the reasons you say you don't like them, and your arguments for why others should agree with you are practically the exact same arguments that have been used for centuries.
I recently did a talk on the censorship of James Joyce's book Ulysses. What we now recognise as "brilliance" was censored for several decades because it was thought to have "subliminals" that would "corrupt" people and glorify "bad stuff".
In Joyce's day it was sexist, classist elitism plain and simple - they wanted to protect "women and the poor" from Joyce's descriptions of masturbation. Joyce just wanted to write what the real world was like, as opposed to glossing over the less-pleasant bits.
Today it is more common to not trust 'those lacking aptitude in critical thinking'. I very much enjoy Captain Disillusion's YouTube channel, so I can definitely sympathise with the cause of advancing critical thinking. When bad actors set out to cause deception, they generally manage it. But, are people similarly vulnerable to manipulation by fiction or music that does not seek to manipulate beyond emotional impact?
The issue here is that someone who would prefer "I'm going to be vile" material to not be represented in mass media feels that way because they don't trust some among their fellow citizens to not adopt the behaviour depicted in the media they consume. They trust themselves, but they do not trust "some other group", whose members they can never seem to name.
Surely to say "people will be more inclined to murder and steal because they saw Harley Quinn do it" is as absurd as "people will be inclined to throw banana skins at other cars when driving because it worked in Mario Kart". Mario Kart is a game and therefore immersive, that one is generally introduced to at a young age. Surely then it should be more influential on a mind than a film from a couple of years ago?
Not even among the people I respect the very least in the world have I ever met anyone who has "lost the real and true them" to provocative fiction or music. But, I have met plenty who have lost some of their grip on reality on account of media that pretends to be real - reality TV, for example, internet hoaxes, and influencers posing as reputable intellectuals.
But, I simply cannot side with a view that places so little trust in people they have not met, or people they have only read about from sources burdened with a profit motive.
I do not know anyone for whom the pandemic caused their view on stealing to change. I do know many people who are now desperate, who cannot help themselves, and are in dire need of support. For desperation to result in stealing is truly ancient.
Also, as a past employee of a religious organisation myself, my understanding was also that the pandemic had caused a significant uptick in attendance at religious services.
As for the "real and true me"... I am a different person with my grandmother compared with when I am with my friends. Which one is "real and true"? Is identity not plural? Even if my decision making ability is somehow corrupted, am I not free to decide this for myself? The lines for "questionable" and "objectively invalid" decisions were a very long way apart last time I checked.
...It's probably my turn to apologise for going off on one.
But, this is all really useful - how we see the world impact how we tell our stories, and of course it impacts our music. All our views and beliefs stem from our values, and our values all get regurgitated out into our storytelling.
Thank you again for this thread!